Medicalization beyond physicians: pharmaceutical marketing on attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in Argentina and Brazil (1998-2014)

Abstract

From a critical analysis of medicalization studies, and as a contribution to these perspectives, we describe and analyze the ways in which the transnational pharmaceutical industry penetrates diverse social spaces, with different marketing strategies, to consolidate medicalized processes in Argentina and Brazil. We analyzed two expansion methods of medicalization processes and specific ADHD diagnostic and treatment aspects and trends were developed in both countries: the impact of the pharmaceutical industry on advocacy groups in Brazil and pharmaceutical marketing strategies aimed at non-medical actors in Argentina. These two methods are characterized by involving other actors than medical professionals. The methodology includes data from research conducted in Argentina and Brazil between 1998 and 2014, based in the University of Buenos Aires and in the State University of Rio de Janeiro, focused on the study of ADHD diagnostic and treatment processes and methylphenidate consumption in both countries. We used individual and group semi-structured interview techniques with professors and health professionals, official and professional organization statistics, and national and international general and specialized literature. We concluded that the phenomena documented in Argentina and Brazil highlight the importance of conducting investigations that covers specific aspects of empirical cases and their multiple connections with broader and intense knowledges networks, dispositives, normatives and actors involved in the medicalization in the 21st century.